Groups Pledge $330 Million to Save Detroit's Art Collection

Bankrupt City Could Use the Money to Bolster Its Pension System

DETROIT—A judge has found a way for Detroit to sell masterworks by van Gogh, Bruegel and Michelangelo without letting them out of sight.

The proposal by the judge, who is mediating Detroit's bankruptcy case, got a $330 million boost Monday after some of the nation's leading foundations publicly pledged to try to prevent a fire sale of city-owned art.

The so-called grand bargain has attracted nine foundations that have...